Alonso insists Ferrari the team to beat

At Sepang, Alonso and teammate Lewis Hamilton scored McLaren's first one-two since 2005, with the Spaniard moving to the top of the championship standings two races into the season.

But despite the result in Sepang, Alonso insists Ferrari are still the team to beat.

"We still have some doubts, because in the tests here we saw we were struggling a little with BMW and Renault," Alonso told reporters in Bahrain.

"And Ferrari for sure were in front of everybody. But we have made some improvements to the car (since then) and this weekend we will see the results. I think we should be more competitive than at the test."

The world champion asserts McLaren are keeping their feet firmly on the ground, knowing that Ferrari looked like the team to beat when they tested in Bahrain last month.

"I think the people are quite cautious in what we have to do, and quite realistic," he said. "We did not confuse ourselves after the Malaysia result on Sunday. We will keep our feet on the ground.

"And knowing that what we saw in the winter, and what we saw in Australia, that it is quite possible we could see something similar here in Bahrain with Ferrari ahead of everybody.

"We know that. So even though last weekend was perfect for us, we still think that we need to do something more to catch them."